Just two weeks after PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds surpassed Grand Theft Auto 5 to obtain the fourth highest concurrent user count on Steam, the popular multiplayer title has seen its drastic surge of growth set another milestone. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds can now claim the third highest concurrent Steam user count of all time, becoming top non-Valve title for such out of every single game available on the digital platform.

The title, which peaked at 481,291 concurrent users, is still some far cry short of competing with Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which set records of 1,291,328 and 850,485 concurrent users respectively. Still, it's no small feat to burst past well established franchise titles like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Fallout 4, though we have to imagine the title's lower price point gave it a significant boost over the competition.

What's even more impressive is the fact that Battlegrounds is still an early access title, with the full game set to release around 6 months from now, likely around the same time as its console-exclusive Xbox One counterpart. Developer Chang Han Kim has previously stated that he wants to see cross-play support between PC and Xbox One users, an act that would grant Xbox One players immediate access to a huge community of active players.

As with any high profile game, Battlegrounds is already no stranger to controversy. The developer of the game recently got into an online feud with a prominent streamer after the latter was banned from the game, while other fans were displeased to see a paid loot crate arrive in the early access title. While the crate provides purely cosmetic items, it's no secret that microtransactions can easily rattle the fanbase of any title, which can be a precarious path for a game that is still - despite its rapid growth - in its infancy.

According to SteamSpy, the title has now surpassed an astounding 6 million downloads, which means it sold an additional 2 million units in the last month alone. While many games tend to start out with a large launch-day player base with active players dwindling down from there, Battlegrounds has seen steady growth since its Early Access release - though only time will tell if PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has the potential to dethrone the any or either of the Valve titles ahead of it.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is out now through Steam Early Access, in late 2017 for Xbox One, and with a PS4 release planned for the future.

Source: SteamSpy